Abstract: This study aims to understand the entrepreneurial experiences of the business owners as they started their business and determine the reasons that led them to become a business. Furthermore, this study aims to determine the success factors of each business and understand its interconnectedness to the reasons that made them decide to become a business owner. The research focused on the food business industry, where business owners and franchisees were selected as participants based on two main criteria: the business length and size. Data was gathered through a semi-structured interview, where business owners were to tell their business experiences based on the questions asked. The findings reveal that the business owners have started their business because of some external influence particularly a suggestion from a friend, and internal influence specifically a family influence or having a prior background in business due to their family being in business. Factors that motivated the participants were prior family background, source of income, passion and market opportunity. The findings have also revealed that location, quality and price of products as well as religious inclination were the common factors in making the pathway to success and is influences by different factors and that a relevant study of another industry is recommended to understand more about the success of a certain business, as the results derived from the study may not apply to a different industry. The results also suggest that to start a business means to be able to have a stable source of income as most of the participants started as employees or came from a family of business owners. This study also suggests that relevant research should be done on market trends as experiences from the participants may not give enough motivation for a person to start a business.

College of Business and Accountancy Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Major in Marketing Management